The Power Behind the President

Book review by Tom Ryerson
February 26, 2011

The Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations And The American Decline by James Perloff. Western Islands Publishers, 1988. 264 pp.

There are those who are quick to cry “conspiracy” or “cover-up” over any kind of major public event or disaster. After reading a book such as that of Mr. Perloff’s, one is reminded that the greatest conspiracies are those which are hidden in plain sight. All that is needed is a different perspective allowing one to recognize clues and patterns across the span of time. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote in a personal letter in 1933, “The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson…”

In The Shadows of Power, a free-lance writer for The New American traces about eight decades of U.S. foreign and economic policy through the interlocking personal connections of elite international bankers, lawyers, and politicians in the Council on Foreign Relations, a New York-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting discussion and cooperation among its members. Called a “front organization” for the establishment even by its sympathizers, Mr. Perloff appears to demonstrate the CFR to be highly influential in the U.S. government, and clearly socialist and globalist in its ideology.

From the beginning of the Federal Reserve to Vietnam and Nicaragua, the author connects the dots through a wealth of documentation to show the increasing power of bankers and socialists. Why did we lose in Vietnam? To allow the communists to expand. Why did the Korean War end in a stalemate? To give more credibility to the United Nations. Mr. Perloff brings together historical facts both widely known and little known along with examples of their writings, noting especially the manner in which U.S. foreign policy is written about ahead of time in the publications of such internationalists. He points to a key element of the establishment ideology being a presumed intellectual superiority as such leaders strive for increased global government.

The Shadows of Power is definitely recommended reading for anyone seeking another perspective on vital details of American history over the past century.